!BIOGRAPHY: Sir Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, Baronet, THE BARONAGE
OF SCOTLAND, Edinburgh, 1798, p. 382.
"Captain of the Mansfield Indiaman."
!SOURCE: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon and Alick Morrison, THE MACLEODS--
THE GENEALOGY OF A CLAN, Section II, Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod
Society, 1968, pp. 77-80.
Became the Captain of the LORD MANSFIELD, an East Indiaman, trading
to Bombay and other Indian ports. His purser on some of these voyages
was his nephew, later John MacPherson, who succeeded Warren Hastings
as Governor General in India. When Captain Alexander retired from his
seafaring life, he had acquired "a noble fortune". As early as 1750,
Donald MacLeod, the Captain''s father had been worried by his Chief''s
extravagance and in consequence felt it incumbent upon himself to write
him a letter of advice warning him to restrict his expenditure or else
the consequences would be disastrous. The Chief paid little heed. The
Old Trojan, now to secure himself and his family was desperately
anxious to get a feu of his farm of Berneray in Harris. By 1761, the
Chief, Norman XXII, was in real financial trouble and his creditors were
insisting on immediate payment. Luckily for the Chief, Captain
Alexander of the MANSFIELD was in a postion to grant him a loan but in
return he insisted that the Chief should grant a feu of Berneray to his
father. So desperate was the Chief to get the loan that he signed an
agreement, leaving blank the terms on which the feu should be granted.
[Dr. I.F.Grant, THE MACLEODS.] The terms filled in by purser John
MacPherson, provided that the feu of Berneray should be granted upon the
payment of a premium of £300, an annual feu duty of £150 and a fine of
£130, whenever an heir succeeded to the feu. This feu of Berneray was
to play a very important part in the sale of Harris. In 1769, the Chief
decided to raise the rents in his estates; but found that the proposed feu
duty for Berneray was well below what he felt he was entitled to by
raising the rents. He now disowned the agreement. In May 1772, Donald
MacLeod of Berneray wrote MacKenzie of Delvine, "The Laird has raised
his estate so extravagantly he will find himself disappointed as the
people are not able to pay his demand which obliged many of them to
emigrate to foreign countries. For my part, were not for my time of life,
I would rather follow the gentlemen going to America as hold by the
terms of feuars." As early as January of that year, Captain Alexander
was astounded to read in the LONDON CHRONICLE that the estate of
Harris was for sale. He was in a strong position to buy it: the Chief was
in his debt: the terms of the Berneray feu were bound to prove a
stumbling block to any other prospective buyer. Under the
circumstances, he made a reasonable offer for the state, a flat sum of
£15,000, which meant a 25 1/2 years purshase of the rent of the estate.
The young Chief, Norman 23rd, would not hear of it. Meanwhile he, his
mother and the Trustees endeavoured to contest the legality of the feu
of Berneray, which it was now apprehended was proving a deterrent to
other prospective buyers. All their efforts proved unavailing and nothing
could soften "our cousin''s heart". Though Captain Alexander "wanted to
buy Harris exceedingly", he refused to budge and finally on 25th July
1779 he bought the estate at the price he had originally offered for it. He
decided to reside at Rodel in Harris in 1792 where he built for himself a
commodious dwelling house. He was a most enlightened proprietor with
the well-being of the people of Harris very much at heart, and towards
improving their economic and social fortune. He restored the Church of
St. Clement''s, "ruined by the fury of the Reformation". He probably built
the "caibeal" to his father in the churchyard there with its interesting
inscription: he probably also placed the marble slab above the lintel in
Berneray House to the memory of his great-grandfather, Sir Norman
MacLeod of Berneray. At sacrista he built a fine church of stone and
lime. In Rodel, he began improvements "which in aim and
comprehensiveness have a modern flaviour". Here he built excellent
piers, docks, boathouses and stores for casks, salt and meal. He
anticipated Lord Leverhulme by some 140 years in endeavoring to make
Harris the hub of a great herring industry. He fitted out a cutter for
sounding the fishing grounds from St. Kilda to the Minch. In a letter on
the 22nd March 1787 to Mr. Dempster, the Deputy Governor of the British
Society for extending the fisheries, he put forward bold and generous
proposals for developing the industry in Harris. He drew attention to the
great shoals of herring passing from St. Kilda to the Long Island. He
favoured deep sea fishing as against loch fishing but both could be used.
He drew attention to the excellent sites in Harris for the establishment
of fishing villages. 1. The island of Hermetray with a good harbour and
roadstead, where there was formerly a fishing station in the time of
Charles II. 2. Finsbay and Loch Stockinish, both fit for ships of any
burden. 3. Tarbert, with a narrow neck of land, 100 yards wide, across
which the Bounty fishermen had made a road for hauling their boats. 4.
St. Kilda where a harbour could be constructed in the Bay. He suggests
that people settled in these fishing stations should be supplied with
boats and tackle and a small monthly wage to start with, and all this,
they would repay as their industry prospered. He points out that though
Harris does not afford much meal, it has great abundance of sheep and
cattle. He ends by stating, "If the Society wishes to erect a village at
Loch Tarbert or any other part of my estate, they may obtain lands from
me to the necessary extent on their own terms." He expressed to Mr.
Knox [Knox, TOUR OF THE HEBRIDES] of the Fishing Society his anxiety to
improve housing in Harris. He brought expert fishermen from the East
Coast with Orkney yawls to teach the people how to fish more
efficiently. He set up a factory at Rodel for spinning and making herring
nets. He even set up flour mills and fulling mills, worked by water
power. All in all, here was a true father of his people in many ways
ahead of his time and proof that Highlanders, given the means, can be as
progressive as people in other parts. His generous efforts for Harris
were not in the long run successful. John Lane Bucchanan blamed the
tacksmen for this but his evidence is tainted for he had a vendetta
against those who had testified truthfully that as a clergyman he was
unworthy of his cloth. Captain Alexander himself blamed the vexatious
salt tax and excise laws for at least some of his difficulties. The real
reason however lies in the uncertainty of the herring industry itself. No
full explanation has yet been given why herring periodically desert
favoured lochs in the West Highlands. Broken down in health Captain
Alexander MacLeod went to Harrow for the benefit of his health and here
he died on 7th January 1790. "His schemes died with him." He married a
lady of the name of Hume, probably the daughter of Abraham Hume, a
Glasgow merchant, who had chartered the LORD MANSFIELD in 1763 for a
voyage to Bombay. They had issue.
!BIOGRAPHY: John Burke, Esq., A GENEALOGICAL AND HERADIC HISTORY OF
THE COMMONERS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, Vol. II, Baltimore,
Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1977, pp. 175-178.